1st explosion - now what?

I came home today to a puddle of beer in my pantry. The culprit was a 22 fl.oz. bottle of a bourbon stout that was conditioning. I'm not sure if I bottled too soon, added too much sugar, or have a possible infection on my hands. After cleaning up I moved the remaining bottles to the garage. Half are in a box and the other half are in wine carriers with a doubled up bath towel over them to (hopefully) contain the glass should another explode. Here's what I've done to this point:

Brew day: 8/5/12
Used Northern Brewer's Bourbon Barrel Porter kit http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/bourbon-barrel-porter-extract-kit.html
OG 1.057 (corrected for 68°F)

One week: 8/12/12 - Gravity is 1.023 (corrected for 74°F)

One week plus one day: 8/13/12 - gravity was stable, so I racked to the secondary (glass carboy)

Four weeks minus one day: 9/1/12 - Added oak cubes and a split (but not scraped) vanilla bean to 18 fl. oz bourbon

Four weeks: 9/2/12 - Poured the soaked oak cubes and bourbon into the secondary. Dropped three cubes and the vanilla bean on the floor during transfer, so they didn't go into the secondary.

Six weeks: 9/16/12 - Bottling Day
Final gravity is 1.022 (Corrected for 74°F)
Dissolved 3/4 cup corn sugar in 2 cups water and added to bottling bucket.
Bottled in 22 fl.oz. bottles and capped with black

Ten weeks: 10/14/12 - One bottle exploded, the others were moved to the garage to minimize damage/cleanup should more explode.

So my question: Should I vent and recap the remaining bottles? What did I do wrong?

Just happened to me.

Pic here in my intro thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f29/new-hbt-forums-brewing-yr-so-hi-western-pa-360623/


As you can see I uncapped the batch sloooowly... to release some gasses & after waiting a bit (5min or so) I recapped.

Tasted like ass. And I have no clue what happened either. I'm pretty sure fermenting was done, pretty sure I used the same about of priming sugar I've used in the previous 15 or so runs... so who knows. I can say it really didn't taste good.

1.022 FG from a 1.056 wort wasn't attenuated enough. Put them in the fridge to slow the yeasties and drink up.

jls988 said:

Dissolved 3/4 cup corn sugar in 2 cups water and added to bottling bucket.

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the FG was really high, and there is no way to know exactly how much dry sugar is in 3/4 cup. It has to be weighed for accuracy.

It was an extract kit, and 1.022 after 7 weeks at 74°F might be as far as the yeast were going to take that brew without help (63% AA, wouldn't be unheard of)...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

It was an extract kit, and 1.022 after 7 weeks at 74°F might be as far as the yeast were going to take that brew without help (63% AA, wouldn't be unheard of)...

Cheers!

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looking at that recipe on NB, there is a lot of dark LME. not good for fermentation.

Any ideas on how the addition of bourbon would affect the FG and overall attenuation?

Since I've posted, I've used a bottle opener to relieve the pressure without opening the bottles. I wish I had a dedicated beer fridge to put these in to chill out the yeast, but I don't. Between the possibility of another explosion and the fact that the kit reviews said to give it several months to condition, these are going to have to hang out in my garage.

Did you add your bottling sugar to boiling water? Also inadequate mixing into the bottling bucket could have made some bottles over carb.

But the simple answer and easiest to prevent in the future is to allow more bottle conditioning time as you said.

moviebrain said:

Did you add your bottling sugar to boiling water? Also inadequate mixing into the bottling bucket could have made some bottles over carb.

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I boiled the sugar on the stove and am positive it all dissolved, but it's possible it wasn't mixed thoroughly enough in the bucket.

It's not coincidence that every bottle bomb thread on there is about a 1.050ish beer that cuts out around 1.020. Once you give that wort some oxygen by transferring and a little simple sugar to start back up...BOOM!

Effingbeer said:

It's not coincidence that every bottle bomb thread on there is about a 1.050ish beer that cuts out around 1.020. Once you give that wort some oxygen by transferring and a little simple sugar to start back up...BOOM!

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So what's the solution?

jls988 said:

So what's the solution?

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There's a number of them on here, most seem like desperate shots in the dark. I think I would have tried racking to a secondary and wait for a while to see if it was enough action to drop a couple points. Many threads on here would advocate a re-pitch of something like a champagne yeast(along with as many who would say it doesn't really work). Once it is in the bottle there is not much you can do. Some would say to carefully vent and recap; I wonder how many times you would have to do this, especially if it is something you are trying to age. Personally, I would probably put them in the fridge and drink them. Try brewing another batch and giving the yeast the best possible environment to finish(aerate well prior to pitch, control temps, maybe shake it a couple of times during fermentation to get rid of excess co2)